Pricing and selling value are common topics among white collar professionals like CPA's and attorneys. But do roofers and AC repair companies need any help in this area. A couple of recent conversations show blue collar service industries deal with exactly the same issues of pricing and selling value to customers. In this episode Joey goes in depth to give real life examples of how things go wrong and what to do to fix them.

Professionals are those who take their work to the next level. It has little to do with the color of your collar and everything to do with how much you care about the value you deliver. In this episode Joey talks about how you reward this innovative and pivotal group in your organization.

For most business owners the starting gun goes off early every morning and the finish tape is nowhere in sight. Asking (and answering!) these six questions will give priority and perspective to your day and week.

Businesses spend lots of time working on strategies for operations, customer service, sales...you name it. But how often do they have explicit strategies for CASH? Without cash your mission is put on hold. In this episode Axiom founder Joey Brannon talks about the handful of cash strategies that can improve your overall business.

When it comes to time management inside companies the boss sets the tone. Even the best time manager can become frustrated and unproductive under a boss that doesn't respect boundaries and can't understand the role he or she should be playing in the organization.

Vertical integration is most often associated with Fortune 500 companies than with small businesses. But there are cases where vertical integration is a viable part of a small business growth strategy. In this episode Joey outlines the situations that might green light a vertical integration strategy and provides some real life examples.

Understanding that small business owners have two hats to wear is only half the battle. Understanding the difference between owner and operator roles and the necessity of switching hats is key to business growth.

The Axiom podcast is back after taking a few months off. In this episode Joey talks about what has been happening in the time since our last episode and what to expect over the next month. He also shares part of his note taking workflow and why it is so important to what he does every day.

The more experience we get with businesses that have never done strategic planning before the more we see organizations that fail to make decisions. Even bad decisions can be better than no decisions. For these companies a strategic plan provides the security that allows them to make more decisions, knowing that even a bad decision will be detected and corrected before it can do too much damage.

Few things are as important to business growth as what the owner spends his or her time doing on a day to day basis. Defining the owner's highest and best use is key to continued growth and to also understanding the maturity of the leadership role within companies. In this episode Joey walks through the six stages of leadership growth and how a business owner's highest and best use changes at each stage.

No, not that kind of family business. This week we continue the discussion on what it's like to work with family, but this time we examine the darker side. Both parents and their kids fall victim to several common mistakes and missteps when family and business intersect. If you want to avoid these mistakes or if you are looking for a way to overcome some of the sins of the past this episode is for you.

They can be the best and the worst places to work. This week we focus on the 10 best things about family businesses. This list takes on the topic from both perspectives. You may be the founder bringing children into the business or you might be thinking about accepting an offer from "Pop" to run the show. Either way, this episode covers the things you don't want to miss about running and being a part of the family biz.

Marketing is one of those words that conjures up images of Madison Avenue wizards capable of coming up with the perfect copy with a cigarette in one hand and a martini in the other. Marketing strategy is considered beyond the reach of the average small business owner. In this episode we strip away all of the BS and get to the nuts and bolts of effective marketing inside small companies.

Pruning is a necessary part of growth. It is true in life and it is true in business. But very few businesses build a pruning cycle into their growth plans. In this episode we talk about what to prune and how to do it. It's not just customers, although that is a big part of the pruning process. Pruning needs to be applied to every part of the business for it to remain thriving and healthy.

Growth requires owners to become (or hire) managers. But without "A Players" owners are stuck putting out fires and working around the inabilities of employees who need too much hand holding. If there is a common complaint among small business owners it is the trouble they have finding and retaining top talent. In this episode we tackle the greatest constraint to sustained business growth. Without the right people you will not have a prayer of reaching the next level, whether that is $2 million, $5 million, $10 million or $20 million. You need "A Players" to grow year over year and you must have them to accomplish extraordinary things.

Top-performing companies are often described as candid places to work. Team members share open and honest discussion with little posturing or hidden agendas. Building candid conversations into the culture of your organization is necessary if your team is to accomplish anything larger than the individual efforts of one superstar. In this podcast we talk about what this conversations look like, the situations where you can expect them to show up spontaneously, and how to leverage those situations into a long standing culture shift.

Some business owners smile and nod their heads when I tell them their receptionist is the most important employee in the company, but they don't get it. In this episode I talk about building internal and external culture around the customer experience.

Do you know what to do to grow your business? Most business owners do. But they haven't done it. They can't do it. They don't know why they can't. They just haven't. In this episode Joey tackles the problem of getting out of the rut and starting to grow again. He tells you how to do it and gives you three things you can do to get your mojo back. Eminently practical this is the secret sauce for getting back on the growth train.

Creativity is often perceived to be the domain of those who accept no limits, who attack the canvas unfettered, who pound out page after page in an unbridled response to the inner muse. But perception is not reality. Creative solutions are most often found within the boundaries of very real constraints. In the real world these constraints are the fuel that drives our creative engine. Without them we wander aimlessly. With them we focus energy and come up with astounding solutions, designs and insights.

It took me five years longer than it should have to create the business I wanted to run. In this episode I talk about the tool I could have used to shorten the journey. The idea of a one page plan sounds catchy. But in practice it is much more than a nifty slogan. One page plans done right have the potential to change your business in powerful ways.

Strategic planning is fun. Implementation, not so much. When it comes to getting the plan underway most companies fail to face down the 800 pound gorilla in the room. You know the moment if you have witnessed it. Leaders suddenly become very interested in their shoes and find it hard to speak. What is the gorilla? What do you do to face it down? This episode is all about making progress, good or bad, with your strategic plan.

Teams should not have a centralized task management system. Why not? In this episode Joey talks about the pros and cons of centralized systems and what you will be trading if you opt for a system designed around the company's needs.

"Where there is no development of talent there will be no growth." That quote from Buck Jacobs is played out in companies every single day. To grow you must develop a company of leaders. But leadership is an extraordinarily complex topic. Who has the time or resources to fully understand it? Luckily you don't have to. There are just a few key ingredients that will start to make a difference as soon as you add them to your team. No matter what level you are in the organization, this podcast will show you how to be more effective as a leader.

The last thing you need is more opportunity. Everyone thinks that to be successful as a small business you must be nimble, capable of taking advantage of fleeting opportunities. But that isn't true. What you need is the discipline to discover opportunity and the focus to exploit it.

Customer service isn't a strategy. It's a table stake. Few things will undermine a strategic plan faster or more completely than failing customer service. In this episode Joey talks about the fundamentals of customer service and why you have to get it right before you start planning.

Teams that can't manage their calendars or their responsibilities have no chance of pulling off a winning strategy. In this episode Joey covers the basics of time and task management. These essential skills must be part of every team member's toolbox.

This podcast was recorded a couple of years ago. Joey talks about dealing with adversity and resistance, both where these things originate and how to overcome them. The kids are older and some of the examples a little dated, but the meat of the content is as relevant as ever.

Pace is part of everything we do in business. When we get intentional about pace and how we use it for different activities effectiveness improves. This was the first podcast, recorded a couple of years before the platform was part of the consulting business. But it was first because this topic finds its way into everything we do with clients and into everything successful clients do with their teams.